Celebrity Chef-Inspired Holiday Cookie and Cocktail Pairings

In honor of this year's #CoCoCo contest, we've rounded up a selection of cookies and cocktails from the hottest chefs and mixologists around. Check out these master combos, then Instagram us a pic of your faves.

In honor of this year's #CoCoCo contest, we've rounded up a selection of cookies and cocktails from the hottest chefs and mixologists around. Check out these master combos, then Instagram us a pic of your faves using #CoCoCo. The best submission will win fixings for a fab gathering, courtesy of PAMA liquor and Whiskey & Wine.

"Both are fun for the holidays—a biscotti with pistachios and cranberries and eggnog is a great combination. In my eggnog, I use rum. I separate the eggs and whip them to give them a nice fluff, add some alcohol to that, and then add milk. It's cooked a little bit and chilled down so it's almost like a custard, but I don't make it that thick. You always dip the biscotti in the eggnog." — Tom Colicchio, Craft
Almond Biscotti
3/4 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 Tbsp aniseed
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup golden raisins
Heat oven to 325°F. Spread the almonds on a baking sheet and toast until golden and fragrant, about 10 minutes.
In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter with sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, then add aniseed. Sift flour with baking powder, cornmeal, and salt, then gradually add with mixer running on low. Fold raisins and almonds into the dough.
Cover 2 baking sheets with parchment. Form the dough into 4 8-inch logs, place 2 on each sheet pan, and bake until firm, about 40 minutes. Cool for at least 10 minutes, then slice each log into about 15 biscotti.
Reduce oven temperature to 200°F. Arrange biscotti on a baking sheet and toast until they are dry and golden, about 2 hours. Cool and serve.
Makes 60 biscotti.
Recipe reprinted from the Bing Food and Drink app.

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Courtesy of the company

Compost Cookies and Cereal Milk White Ruskie

"My brother-in-law calls them 'garbage cookies;' others call them 'kitchen sink cookies.' Call them what you want, and make them as we make them at Milk Bar or add your own favorite snacks to the cookie base in place of ours. My favorite compost cookies have my favorite snacks in them: chocolate and butterscotch chips, potato chips, pretzels, graham crackers, and coffee (grounds)." — Christina Tosi, Momofuku Milk Bar
Compost Cookies
2 sticks butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar, tightly packed
2 Tbsp glucose
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup mini butterscotch chips
1/2 cup graham crust*
1/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
2 1/2 tsp ground coffee
2 cups potato chips
1 cup mini pretzels
Graham crust*
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup milk powder
2 Tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp kosher salt
4 Tbsp melted butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
Toss graham crumbs, milk powder, sugar, and salt with your hands in a medium bowl to evenly distribute the dry ingredients.
Whisk together butter and heavy cream. Add to the dry ingredients and toss again to evenly distribute. The butter will act as glue, adhering to the dry ingredients and turning the mixture into a bunch of small clusters. The mixture should hold its shape if squeezed tightly in the palm of your hand. If it is not moist enough, melt an additional 1 to 1 1/2 Tbsp butter and mix in.
The crust is easiest to mold just after mixing. Stored in an airtight container, graham crust will keep fresh for 1 week at room temperature or 1 month in the fridge or freezer.
Combine butter, sugars, and glucose in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together on medium-high, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add egg and vanilla, and beat, 7 to 8 minutes.
Reduce speed to low and add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix just until the dough comes together, no longer than 1 minute. (Do not walk away from the machine during this step, or you will risk over-mixing the dough.) Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
Still on low speed, add chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, graham crust, oats, and coffee; mix just until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add potato chips and pretzels and paddle, still on low speed, until just incorporated. Be careful not to over-mix or break too many of the pretzels or potato chips. You deserve a pat on the back if one of your cookies bakes off with a whole pretzel standing up in the center.
Using a 2 3/4-ounce ice cream scoop (or a 1/3-cup measure), portion out dough onto a parchment-lined sheet pan. Pat the tops of the cookie dough domes flat. Wrap the sheet pan tightly in plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 1 hour, or up to 1 week. Do not bake cookies from room temperature— they will not bake properly.
Heat oven to 375°F.
Arrange the chilled dough a minimum of 4 inches apart on parchment- or Silpat-lined sheet pans. Bake, about 18 minutes. Cookies will puff, crackle, and spread. They should be very faintly browned on the edges yet still bright yellow in the center.
Cool cookies completely on the sheet pans before transferring to a plate or an airtight container for storage. At room temp, cookies will keep fresh for 5 days; in the freezer, they will keep for 1 month.
Makes 15 to 20 cookies.
Cereal Milk White Ruskie
1 cup Cereal Milk Ice Cream base (not frozen)*
2 tsp freeze-dried corn powder
3 Tbsp Kahlua
3 Tbsp vodka
Cereal Milk Ice Cream*
Makes about 1 quart
1 1/2 gelatin sheets
1 recipe cereal milk**
2 tsp freeze-dried corn powder
2 Tbsp light brown sugar, tightly packed
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup milk powder
2 Tbsp glucose
Bloom the gelatin***.
Warm a little bit of cereal milk and whisk in the gelatin to dissolve. Whisk in remaining cereal milk, corn powder, brown sugar, salt, milk powder, and glucose until everything is fully dissolved.
Pour mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into your ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. The ice cream is best spun just before serving or using, but it will keep in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.
Makes about 1 quart.
Cereal Milk**
2 3/4 cups cornflakes
29 oz cold milk
2 Tbsp light brown sugar, tightly packed
1/4 tsp kosher salt
Heat oven to 300°F.
Spread cornflakes on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Bake, 15 minutes, until lightly toasted. Cool completely.
Transfer cooled cornflakes to a large pitcher. Pour milk into the pitcher and stir vigorously. Let steep, 20 minutes, at room temperature.
Strain mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, collecting the milk in a medium bowl. Milk will drain off quickly at first, then become thicker and starchy toward the end of the straining process. Using the back of a ladle (or your hand), wring the milk out of the cornflakes, but do not force the mushy cornflakes through the sieve.
Whisk brown sugar and salt into the milk until fully dissolved. Store in a clean pitcher or glass milk jug, refrigerated, up to 1 week.
Makes about 2 1/2 cups
***Gelatin: In order to incorporate it seamlessly into a mixture, gelatin must be softened, or "bloomed," first. To bloom any amount of sheet gelatin, soak it in a small bowl of cold water. The gelatin is bloomed when it has become soft, after about 2 minutes. If the gelatin still has hard bits to it, it needs to bloom longer. If it is so soft it is falling apart, it is over-bloomed; discard gelatin and start over. Gently squeeze bloomed gelatin to remove any excess water before using.
To bloom powdered gelatin (any amount between ½ and 2 tsp), sprinkle it evenly onto the surface of 2 Tbsp cold water in a small cup. If you pour the powdered gelatin into a pile on top of the water, the granules in the center will remain hard and will not bloom. If you use too much water to bloom the gelatin, it will dilute the flavor of the recipe and its consistency will be looser than intended. Allow granules to soften entirely in cold water, 3 to 5 minutes.
Once it is bloomed, in order to incorporate either kind of gelatin into a mixture, you need to dissolve the gelatin in hot, but not boiling, liquid—usually a bit of whatever it will be mixed into. If gelatin gets too hot, it will lose its strength and you will have to start over again.
Whisk together ice cream base, corn powder, Kahlua, and vodka in a small pitcher or bowl. Pour into 2 ice-filled glasses. Or, if you have the mixology gear, pour into a cocktail shaker filled with ice, cover, and shake until the shaker is frosty. Strain into 2 old fashioned glasses filled with ice.

"The smokiness of the mezcal combined with the walnut liqueur pairs well with the cocoa and brittle flavors from the cookie for a decadent ending to any meal." — Stephanie Kopyta , Perilla
Salted Chocolate Brittle Cookies
6 1/2 Tbsp butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
Using an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add in eggs and vanilla and continue to mix until they are incorporated.
Add in dry ingredients slowly, until all are fully incorporated.
Let dough rest in refrigerator, covered, about 1 hour.
Roll into ½-ounce balls and spread out evenly on a half sheet pan.
Press thumb into the center of the cookie to create a hole for the brittle.
Makes 36 1/2-ounce cookies.
Brittle
2/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp water
5 Tbsp plus 1 tsp corn syrup
2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp butter
1/6 tsp baking soda
Salt, to taste
In a heavy saucepan, mix together sugar, water, and corn syrup.
Put on high heat and let cook until sugar starts to caramelize, about 6 to 10 minutes.
Once you see a small amount of brown, swirl the pan for even coloring.
The caramel will turn light to medium brown. Very carefully, add in butter and baking soda. Whisk until combined.
Let cool on a piece of parchment, then break up in a food processor. (If you do not have a food processor, you can always use the bottom of a pot to break the brittle into small pieces.)
Sprinkle a generous amount of brittle in the hole of each cookie, then sprinkle with salt. I prefer Maldon, but any coarse salt will do.
Bake for 8 minutes at 300°F.
If you do not have the time for the brittle, you can always use store-bought caramels.
Makes 1 1/2 cups brittle.
Smoke Signal
1 oz Sombra mezcal
1/2 oz Benedictine
1/2 oz Nux walnut liquer
2 dashes Dr. Adam Elmegirab's Aphrodite bitters
Fresh rosemary sprig, for garnish
Stir ingredients in packed glass of ice and strain into a rocks glass over a large single ice cube. Garnish with rosemary sprig.Developed by Perilla bartender Alexis Belting

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